The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.

[Region 1][Map 25][Location 4] - Port Magalie

Since 12rounds has made several characters for the region, and the background has started to take off, I figured it was time to get a map out for Port Magalie in the Witchlight Strand.

This is still very much a WIP. Things still on the list:

* Add more buildings inside and outside the walls to make placement a bit more random.
* Create the docks and docks district.
* Detail the walls (the white lines and blue dots are only placeholders).
* Add a scale bar (Port Magalie is about 2 miles at its longest point).
* Add labels
* Fix whatever you guys tell me needs fixing.

I don't think I'm a great mapper, but I've definitely got more of a handle on it now than when I first got here. And man, this stuff is addicting!

Very nice so far! You may want some additional towers or turrets along the long walls. Are those cliffs overlooking the beach and bridges across the water?

They are indeed cliffs overlooking the beach. They are not necessarily bridges, though. I had considered making the walls cross the water somehow, though I don't know how feasible that would be. I just want the city to be able to control the flow of traffic through the river at that particular point. Any suggestions?

Looks nice.
Walls over rivers are tricky, they would more likely be a tower bridge. The purpose is to control the traffic on the river for tax collecting and defense.
You should wall up the SE edge of the keep, the walls are not just there do stop an assault, they are there to protect the buildings from artillery. As it is, if the enemy takes the SE bank they could fire straight into the keep. Not good.
Also, there are very long stretches without towers. I don't know how well defended this city is supposed to be, but i would put some hanging towers on there and have sizable bastions on all corners.
Cheers

I looked around for a bit to see if there were any historical examples of river-spanning fortifications of that sort, but I didn't find anything useful. Mostly references to a certain hard disk manufacturer or a hotel in Washington, D.C.

I suspect that sinking footings for a sturdy wall into the river bed would be a tricky engineering task, not to mention you'd have to have a gate mechanism to let legitimate traffic through. I think the most effective way to deny access to the river mouth would be artillery. Perhaps someone with more expertise in this area knows something more.

There is one possibility from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels--a particular city's harbors are defended by chains that normally lie on the river bottom. If the city is threatened, they are winched up to just above the water-line. That seems a pretty flimsy defense to me, though. Any enemy who knows it's there would simply attack it with a heavy ramming ship and likely rip the chain right out of its mechanism.

Looking good so far! Definitely put some more buildings inside the walls though.
Are people going to be allowed to cross the river? It looks like you are doing walls instead of bridges, so I was wondering.

There is one possibility from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels--a particular city's harbors are defended by chains that normally lie on the river bottom. If the city is threatened, they are winched up to just above the water-line. That seems a pretty flimsy defense to me, though. Any enemy who knows it's there would simply attack it with a heavy ramming ship and likely rip the chain right out of its mechanism.

Chains have been used a lot here in Europe, mainly to block traffic on the rivers (mostly to collect toll). This is a nice read:

It gives some information on Rhine castles, mostly built by robber barons
They had the castle on one of the banks and a tower on the other bank. A chain was between them and could be raised.
Also see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron

It seems the robber barons were put out of business when their castles were destroyed one after the other

Very nice Industrygothica, there can never be enough city maps I like the look of the houses and the overall look of the map. However, there are a few comments I would send your way:

First, I'm assuming Port Magalie is located on either side of a river gorge (which explains the lower area). If so, why is the upper and lower river area fortified with walls around or across them? While many Renaissance and Medieval cities would have fortifications guarding the entrances to bays and rivers, they would deny access to said body of water by stringing across a chain. Any raider or ship that wanted to enter would have to cut the chain, bringing it into range of catapults, trebuchets, and in an rpg setting, magic users.

Second, where's the bridge? A city that is a large as Port Magalie should have some type of bridge linking both halves. If the city has been there for awhile (several centuries), than it is likely to be a stone bridge, otherwise it will likely be wood. You may also want to experiment with putting structures on both sides of the bridge, as space in medieval cities was at such a premium that people built wherever they could (see the picture of old London Bridge at http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb...4-C01AA454.jpg).

Third, why do you have two cities instead of one? What do I mean by that? The two halves of Port Magalie are constructed as if they are two separate cities. There are no roads that lead from one side to the other and the houses are away from the sides of the gorge. While no one is going to be crazy enough to construct a house on a cliff, you need to think of a city growing out like rings on a tree. Take a look at this map of Paris (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b77106992 --its a bit anachronistic as its from 1705). Notice how the city seems to grow out from the center island, which it did. I would cluster the buildings closely together nearest the river (and especially on whichever side the city started) and space them out as you get away from the urban core (like you've done on the north side).

Fourth, where are the markets? You have a large circular open area on the southeast side, but I do not see a gate in the wall to get to it from the outside. Markets are going to be along or just off major thoroughfares in your city as transportation to and from them was key--situate them accordingly. Also, if you have a port city, as this one seems to be, there should be at least one market near the docks, to handle all the fish and seafood coming in.

Lastly, if this is a large city (with a population in the tens of thousands), then the docks district is likely to be large. Make sure that you have plenty of warehouses, salting mills, and shipyards near the water.

As with all maps, you can take realism to far, but I do think that adding in some of the items mentioned above will make for a better map that is a bit more realistic to the eye. Regardless, great work Industrygothica and keep at it.

[Edit] Wow, in the time it took me to write this, quite a few folks chimed in, just ignore any redundant comments on my part.